Deprivation: data
Many ScotPHO topic pages present health data by area deprivation: see physical activity and deaths for example.
Deprivation by health board
Chart 1 shows how the 10% most deprived datazones in Scotland are distributed across NHS Health boards. The chart shows that 22% of the population of Greater Glasgow & Clyde health board live in the 10% most deprived areas in Scotland overall. This is followed by Ayrshire and Arran health board, with 14%. Western Isles, Shetland, and Orkney health boards have no datazones in the 10% most deprived datazones in Scotland.
Deprivation by council area
Chart 2 shows how the 10% most deprived datazones in Scotland are distributed across the 32 council areas in Scotland. Inverclyde (30%), Glasgow City (30%), and Dundee City (24%) have the greatest proportion of their populations in the 10% most deprived areas of Scotland. At the other extreme the Shetland Islands, Orkney Islands an Na h-Eileanan Siar contain no datazones in the 10% most deprived areas of Scotland.
Deprivation by urban-rural status
There are marked differences in SIMD-measured deprivation by urban-rural category. The urban-rural status of a datazone is classified using the Scottish Government’s urban-rural classification. Chart 3 shows how the 10% most deprived datazones in Scotland are distributed across the six urban-rural status categories. The 10% most deprived areas in Scotland account for a larger share of the population of urban areas than the Scottish average. The population share is lower in small towns and rural areas, suggesting lower levels of multiple deprivation. Charts 1 and 2 support this conclusion, given the low levels of deprivation shown in Highland and Island health boards and council areas.
However, the SIMD has been criticised as a poor measure of deprivation in rural areas. Deprivation is likely to be experienced differently between urban and rural areas, with rural areas experiencing issues around access to services and affordable housing, and higher fuel costs. Deprivation can be more dispersed in rural areas and may not be captured adequately at the small area (datazone) level.
Scottish Burden of Disease
Health inequalities between populations with differing deprivation levels have been well documented for many health outcomes (see the ScotPHO Health Inequalities pages). A ‘burden of disease’ approach can give a comprehensive summary of the debilitating effects of multiple causes of ill health and premature mortality in a population. The approach calculates disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) by combining years lived with disability and years of life lost to premature mortality. In short, DALYs quantify the difference between the ideal of living to old age in good health and the situation where healthy life is shortened by illness, injury, disability and early death.
The burden of disease in Scotland (Chart 4) shows marked differences by SIMD deprivation (Grant et al., 2023). The overall burden of disease in the most deprived areas in 2019 was double that in the least deprived areas, and this was largely driven by inequalities in premature mortality. The rate in the most deprived areas was almost 50% higher than the mean population rate. Differences in area deprivation accounted for 35% of the burden of disease in Scotland in 2019.
Please note: If you require the most up-to-date data available, please check the data sources directly as new data may have been published since these data pages were last updated. Although we endeavour to ensure that the data pages are kept up-to-date, there may be a time lag between new data being published and the relevant ScotPHO web pages being updated.
